4 Reasons Why I Don’t Write on Medium
Finding the words isn’t the problem
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In the spring of 2015, I discovered Medium, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Few days since have passed without a session on the site or the app, and I became a paying member the moment I could, eager to support the people who educate and entertain me daily.
At first, I was excited about the possibilities for building my own publication and audience. Given my lack of free time, Medium’s clean, minimalist look, user-friendly editor, and secure, effortless back-end technology absolutely beat the alternatives. Even today, I dream of leveraging Medium’s simplicity and domain authority to supercharge the launch of my own little corner of the internet, something to sustain me creatively (and perhaps financially) in the future.
And yet, I’ve published just 20 stories here, most recently over two years ago when an editor rejected something and I recycled it on Medium. I’ve never submitted a piece to a publication, and the handful of pubs I’ve created have immediately withered like the untended gardens they were. I think I’ve made a total of 25 cents from my work.
So, why don’t I write on Medium? As it turns out, there are four primary reasons, and an inability to find the words isn’t one of them.
1. Exhaustion
I’m a writer, editor, and content strategist by trade, responsible for churning out thousands of words every day. Unsurprisingly, I find that when I hit my final deadline each evening, the last thing I want to do is craft another piece of content. Especially a thoroughly researched and considered piece that meets the high minimum quality standards for the platform.
2. I’d rather read than write
In my free time, before I got married and had kids and bought a house, I used to read multiple magazine subscriptions. Medium now fills that void, and often to the same standards of quality. Plus, I love the reading experience on Medium. The white space. The large, legible fonts. The big, beautiful pictures. The app’s night mode. When you suffer failing eyesight like I do, these are all good things.
